Brad Keselowski is not just a legendary NASCAR veteran driver but also a team owner of RFK Racing. And with these dual responsibilities come numerous insights as well. 

Already, Keselowski is not having a very good time since the start of the 2026 NASCAR season. After a difficult finish at COTA, he expressed his views against the road courses with a blunt 6-word verdict: "Road courses are historically the worst.”

While speaking to SpeedFreaks, Keselowski said, “I just put on my business owner hat, and I don't understand why the sport wants to run so many road courses. 

As a business owner, it's the hardest race to sell sponsors for; it has the lowest attendance and the lowest ratings, which doesn't make sense to me. We should be going to places where the sponsors want to be, the fans want to be, and TV gets the best ratings."

He further believes that a lot of fans identify NASCAR with ovals, but he also admitted that this is just his perspective, and that he cannot speak for every fan

“Road courses are historically the worst in all those categories, so I don't feel any obligation to that,” Keselowski concluded.

Brad Keselowski’s thoughts on road courses make sense from a driver’s perspective, considering how tough it is to handle stock cars. However, from a business perspective, the idea seems to have been debunked.

While NASCAR recently did bring back the Chase format and also came back to the Oval, there is no reason to let go of road courses, considering the kind of viewership they bring in and the fact that they draw in newer, younger audiences. 

And Keselowski is not the only one who has the same thought

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Echoes Keselowski’s Sentiments

At the beginning of the 2026 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted on Twitter, saying, “The Roval will always be there when they want to bring it back. The oval has been solid recently. No reason not to take advantage of that.”

He further added that while some may complain about the lack of road courses in the chase, it doesn’t make a difference to him.

Much like Brad, Earnhardt Jr. has also been among those who have voiced their will against road courses multiple times, despite being initially in awe. 

There were doubts around Brad Keselowski’s participation in COTA because of the injury he suffered in December 2025, especially after Joey Hand was confirmed as the reserve driver. 

However, he was eventually deemed fit to race. That said, it was not a race to remember for the 42-year-old, as he ended up finishing in 20th place, and he now sits in 12th position with 9 points in the table.

Written by

Aaradhya Singh

Edited by

Kaamna Dwivedi